Archive for August, 2017

Any guesses what’s in the toilet. Poop? Yes. And a Doc McStuffins toy? Yep. That, too. Never in 6 glorious years with a girl did I fish anything out of the toilet. I guess, technically, I can still say that because immediately upon learning of the unfortunate Doc swimming experience, I called Jimmy to do the literal dirty work. I did supply him with a shovel. See, I’m helpful! But seriously, what’s with boys? I will say he was a little traumatized to see poor Doc swimming in poop and insisted he wasn’t going to throw Lambie in. Fingers crossed this was a first and last…at least for Coen.

On a more positive note, Coen finally slept in his own bed for the first time since Christmas! Every night, he insists on sleeping in my “cozy bed” and he wants to “snuggle” me. I saw this Minion blanket at Target and told him there was a surprise in his room. He squealed with excitement! And I let him jump on the bed. I think that sealed the deal. Four jumps, then bedtime. Worked like a charm two nights in a row. Though last night he woke up at 3:30 needing to go potty then never fell back asleep. Man, 3 is tough. At least he’s cute!

It started out ok. The chair was pretty fun. He was listening to this awful little happy meal radio on repeat. I’m sure the other patients in the office loved it.

And then Dr. Trujillo came to check things out. It was all downhill from there.

The other three had exams and cleanings, too. No cavities, except for Addie. We’ve been putting off her fillings for a year now. The cost will blow through our max allowable cost for the year, plus we have to pay a ton out of pocket, so that sucks. But, no new cavities and the current ones haven’t gotten any worse in a year, so that’s good news.

Ack…first day of school. Am I the only parent who finds it hard to sleep the night before? I remember just how I felt on the first day. So many nerves. This year was especially hard for me to stomach. A last minute decision to move Addie had me in tears for two straight weeks. On top of that, we took Beckett out of the school district and moved him to a brand new charter school with no track record for services in the school. We’re literally building the entire process as we go. It’s terrifying and so insanely exciting at the same time. For Beckett, I’m feeling nothing but positive for how everything is going so far. The principal is amazing and so hands on with building the resources Beckett needs in the classroom. His teacher rocks…and has five kids of her own, one named Addie. It’s fate! He has a full time aide who has a nephew with CP. He’ll get OT, PT, speech, vision, and assistive technology all in school. One of the board members is on some state board for special needs or is the director of some state program (I was a little distracted when we met) and went out of his way to come meet Beckett and introduce himself to us. Too good to be true, right?! Oh, and numerous parents made it a point to introduce their children to Beckett. I’m not sure why I’m so impressed with this but it really meant a lot that he was treated like any other student. My fingers are crossed that this all works out and he can just stay put through 8th grade.

Now for Addie. She’s having a blast. Thrilled to be back in school. Already has her favorite new friends. Every day has been a great day. It’s me with the anxiety. She’s brilliant. I know this is a thing parents say, but really, she’s such an intelligent, driven, eager to learn little person. I’m so worried she’s not going to be challenged at the current level in which she’s used to learning. She voluntarily went to her old school to take reading tests over the summer. Learning just comes so easy to her and I feel like if she’s breezing through at an advanced level, shouldn’t we keep her in an environment where that level is the norm? I know she’ll do great regardless of the school but if the bar is set higher at Brookfield than it is now, aren’t we doing her a disservice by only expecting her to reach that lower standard. And now here’s the tough part. I LOVE this new school. She and Beckett are together. It’s STEM-based curriculum with arts intergration. All good things but a completely new school so I have no idea where the bar is set.

Ugh. Sometimes I hate adulting. Can’t someone see in the future and reassure me they’re both going to be fine?

On a side note, it sure is hard being the little brother left behind when the sibs go back to school.

Back to school time meant hair cuts for the whole fam! Thank goodness our hair stylist is a saint and has four children herself, so our entire crew invading her space was totally normal. Holden was not thrilled…this is becoming a common occurrence with this one. But Stacy managed to groom his baby mullet and now everyone looks presentable and school-ready!

I can’t believe summer is already over. Two little monkeys are already back to school with the third heading off in a week. We spent our last two weeks being lazy bums. We had a couple famïly swim days at the pool. We finally got Holden in for a proper swimming experience. It wasn’t love but at least he warmed up to it a little. Addie and Coen probably had their last night swims of the season. Coen is so confident now jumping off the step and floating on his back. He started lessons back up this week, so I’m sure he’ll be a fish by next summer.

Addie, Coen and I spent a night watching Shakespeare under the stars at Bartley Ranch. Coen was more into a frog than the play but it was still a fun night.

And finally, our last day was spent riding the ferris wheel, watching fish, and learning about taxidermy at Scheels. Coen had no short of five complete melt downs and screamed all the way home. Yep, summer’s over buddy.